Deathgleaner
|name = Deathgleaner |kingdom = Animalia |phylum = Chordata |class = Mammalia |order = Chiroptera |family = Vespertilionidae}} The '''deathgleaner' is a species of giant, social, diurnal bat native to the North American Desert and Rocky Mountains of 5 million AD. With a wingspan of about four feet and three inches, it is the largest known carnivorous bat in history—and of all bats, only some frugivorous Human era megabats were larger. Evolution As the cold desert spread across North America, the deathgleaner's forest-dwelling ancestor evolved to become larger and more social in order to cover more ground in its search for prey. The deathgleaner has become diurnal in order to avoid the freezing temperatures of the desert night. Ecology An important prey item for the deathgleaner is the spink, a subterranean flightless bird which lives in underground colonies. As spinks are usually inaccessible to deathgleaners in their burrows, the bats have two main hunting strategies. The first is to follow a North American rattleback or look out for one digging, as rattlebacks frequently dig up desert turnips from spink burrows, scattering the birds on the surface and exposing them to deathgleaners. Alternatively, recently-matured spinks gather on the desert surface during the night to mate, so deathgleaners which hunt in the early hours of dawn may find some stragglers still exposed. Although deathgleaners may hunt lost baby rattlebacks, their armour is tough and unpalatable, and the bats will not attack a large adult. Rattlebacks can make themselves seem larger and more frightening by shaking their scales, the sharp edges of which could easily tear a deathgleaner's delicate wings. Appearances In the documentary Deathgleaners appear in "Cold Kansas Desert". A colony are attracted by a digging rattleback to a spink burrow, where they catch and eat several of the flightless birds, before returning to their cave at dusk to roost for the night. At dawn, they return to the desert to catch some slow spinks which are still on the surface after their nighttime mating ceremony. When the mother and infant rattlebacks who are the focus of the episode become separated, the deathgleaners surround and attempt to attack the infant, but are frightened off by the charging mother rattling her scales. List of appearances *''The Future Is Wild'' **1x01. Welcome to the Future **1x05. Cold Kansas Desert *''The Future Is Wild: A Natural History of the Future'' *''The Future Is Wild'' (fulldome show) *''The Future Is Wild: The Living Book'' Notes *It is unclear what group of bats the deathgleaner belongs to. In "Cold Kansas Desert," footage of the predatory Tropical American spectral bat (Vampyrum spectrum) is shown as the narrator states that "bats like these could respond to the spreading cold desert by growing much larger," but the spectral bat is a leaf-nosed bat, while the deathgleaner has no visible nasal adornments. Its French name, "noctule géant," alternatively suggests that it is a giant noctule bat, but noctules are insectivorous and are only found in the Old World. **On the other hand, the name "noctule géant" could possibly be a reference to the Azores noctule (Nyctalus azoreum), which is the only known bat which principally hunts in the daytime, like the deathgleaner. *Deathgleaners are the first animals to appear in The Future Is Wild's opening. In other languages Navigation Category:Animals Category:Mammals Category:Organisms of 5 million AD Category:Organisms of the North American Desert Category:5 million AD